Car



May 20, 1 924.

c. JOHNSON CAR 3 Sheets Sheet 2 Filed Nov.

May 20 1924.

C. JOHNSON CAR 1 Filed Nov- 13 1922 s sheew snee't :5

Patented May an, 1924.

' olmnzronnsomor BOSTON, MAssAcisrusErrs.

CARL

Applieationfiled Kovember is, 19 212. semi No. 600,531.

h mMamasp Be it known that I, C nnJoHNson, a

citizen of the .United ,States,residin [in Boston, in the county ofSuf'folk and tate have invented an Inn 5 of Massachusetts, y I p provement in Cars, of which the follow ng description, in connection with. the accompanying drawings,-1s a specification, like characters on the drawingsrepresenting parts. y g This invention. relatesgto' cars for carrying coal and the like, whichare, provided with gates orydoor sior controlling the dis charge of the load;

Cars ofthischaracter x are provided with mechanism for auto-,

matically opening the doors whenv the loaded cars arrive, at the placewhere the load is' to. be discharged The op'eration-ofthe au-.,

tomatic mechanism is controlledbya trip or device located at the discharging place or station. The doors referred to are closed manually, after the load has been ,discharged, which is not only costly butpbjectionable formany, reasons; 1 a

, The present invention has for. its object to provide mechanism for automatically closing the gates been discharged. a 1 M To this end, the automatic door closing mechanism comprises .a member or device carried by the car and operatively connected with the door or doors ofthe, car, and a.

member ormechanism located alongsideof the track on which the. cantravels and cooperating with the member carried by ,the car, so as to actuate thelatter membe'rfand close the door or doors thereof after the load has been discharged and the year is moving away from the discharging station.

In the present instance, athelinember car. ried by the car. is shown as a pivoted lever,

and the member cooperating therewith is shown as an; arm or lever pivoted to acarriage which is movable ,on ,a vstat onary framework, preferably, located near the dis- The lever: carried by the engage the, lever carried by the carriage and move the latter up an inclined runway as the car is, moved away from the discharging station. ..,The weight of the carriage is sufiicient to cause the lever on the car to'be movedjso as to close the gates or doors thereof, andat or aboutthe time the gates or doors are closed the lever charging station. car is designed to and known to me.

doors b, c,

r doors after the load has ed atone end to on: the car passes out of engagement with the" lever or arm on the movable carriage and the latter is returned to its starting position, as willbe described. a

These and other features of this invention will be'pointed out in the claims at the end ofthis specification. y

Fig. 1 represents in side elevation ajportion of a. coal car and a door closing mechanism embodying this invention.

"Fig. '2, an 'en'd 'ele'vationof the car and the door closing mechanism shown in Fig. 1 ,looking toward the right. I I Fig. 3, a detail to illustrate theoperation of the. invention, and a i Fig. 4:, a detailin section on the line 4-4,

j. Referring to r the drawings, a one, formof; construction of car for trans porting coalfor like material. The car a will-be hereinafter. referred to a a'coal car and is provided as shown with side doors, I), 0 located on opposite sides of the car and controllingiports" or openings through which the coalis di'schargedfrom the car. The

represents with the opposite ends of a lever 13 fast on arock shaft 14: mounted on the car a, andadapted to be turned in one direction to" open ,the'doors b, 0 and in the opposite direction to close the same. i

The. present invention has forits object to provide mechanism for automatically clos',-' ing the doorsb, c, after the load has been discharged, and to this end, the car a has pivoted to it at 20 a lever 21, which is joined by. a flexible connectionw'ith one end of the lever 13 fast. on the rock shaft 14;. a The fiexibleconnection may be a cord or chain 22 passed about sheaves 23, 24 mounted in brackets 25, 26 attached to the side andend of the car a. The chain or cord 22 is connecta link 27 which is pivotally connected with the, lever 13,an d said chain or-cord 'is connected to the lever 21 by a turn-buckle 28, by means of which the flexible connection may be adjusted in length to ensure proper closing of the doors I), c.

The lever 21 extends above the car a and is adapted to engage the member which cooperates with it and which is located along the tracklfiv beyond the discharging station.

Inthepresent instance, the member which cooperates with the, lever 21 carried by the car, is preferably made as a roller 30 loosely .areconnected by links 10, 12,

mounted on a pin "or rod 31 connectingthe lower ends of parallel levers or arms 32 which are pivoted at 33 on opposite sldes of a carriage, preferably made as herein shown and comprising two side plates or members 34 connected together at their lower ends bya tie rod 35 and at their upper ends by shafts or rods 36, upon the opposite ends of" which are mounted wheels 37, which are supported by and movable on an inclined run way 38, which is suitably attached by braces 39 with horizontal top. bars 40 of a supporting framework, whichlatter, is fastened to any suitable stationary support 41,*see Fig. l.

The inclined runway '38 iscomposedlas shown of sidemembers, each of which consists of two angle ironsseparated by a space or slot 42 into which the shafts 36 may extend, as represented in Fig. 1.

The tierod 35 connecting the side plates of the carriage projects beyond the same and is designed to be engaged by the levers 32 and render thempractically a fixed part of the carriage,so that when the lever 21 on the car a isengaged with the roller 30,

the carriage 34 will be moved up theinclined runway 38.

purpose as will be described. The carriage 34 is moved up the inclined runway ing station. At the same time the carria e is being moved up the inclined runway, t e lever 21 on the car is being moved backward by thecarriage from its dotted line position" which it occupies when the doors or gates b,

c, are open into its full line position, see Fig. 1, which it occupies whenthe doorsgare' closed. At ,or about the time the doors or gates are closed and the ley er 21is' in its full line position shown in Fig." 1 the said lever passes by or out of engagement with: the carriage and the latter is then free to;

travel down the runwayto its startingposi}. tion. It is desirable to control the return movement ofthe ,carriage,' which is effected" by providing a counterweight 50 for, the:

same. The, counterweight 50 is carriedfby one arm 51 of an elbow levenpiv'otally mounted at 52 onja block 53 attaohedfto the top bar 40 and having its other arm 54 connected by a link 55 withthecarriage 34. The arms 51, 54 of the elbow lever are preferably connected by across brace 56.

Provision is made for cushioning the rea turn movement of the carriage, andto this end, rubber or other cushioning members 57 are located at the lower ends of the runway and are secured in fixed relation to the runway between clamping members 58, 59,'see Fig. 4. The clamping member 58 is screwed upon the threaded end of arod 60 and en gages the cushion 57 and the clamping mem- The levers 32 are free to" be moved away from the tie rod 35 for "a" 38 by. the lever 21 after the car has discharged its load and is moving away fromthe' discha ge ber 59 engages the outside of the runway and 'is secured on the threaded rod by the nut 61.

.In 1' addition, the arm 51 of the counterweight lever is designed to engage a rubber or other cushion 62 supported by the top bar 40 of the framework carrying the runway.

The lever 21 maybe guided in its movement by a metal strap or bar65 attached to the car a, (loal cars of the character described are'highly useful for transporting coal from a wharf at which a coalbarge or vessel is unloading a cargo of coal, to one or more stations' or placeswhere the coal is to be discharged, andit may be desirable to permit the .e

h ty cars with their doors closedto passf y the discharging stations without engaging the carriage. To this 7 end, the levers 3.2 are capable moved from their ,operative position shown. by. 5 full lines Y in Fig. 11 into an inoperative position indicated by dotted linesin Fig. 1, and said levers are held in this latter position by means ofa pim not shown,but

which is insertedby an operator into a hole 70 in the'side ofthe carriage 34.

When the lever 32is'in its. inoperative position, the. lever 21 'on the car can pass freely" thereunder.

I claim.

1. The combination with as. provided with movable door and 5 with". means for opening the same, of means for automaticaL, ly closing said door comprising a device carried by; the car; and" operatively connected withlthe vvdoor openi gmeans, and a" along the of travel the car and co"- operatingwith thedevice on wear to be engaged by the latter and bebodily moved thereby while the device" onthe car is being'moved into a second position to effect closingo-f thedeor;v v 3. The combination with acar provided with a door controlling the discharge of the contentsof thecar, of a deviceoperatively connected withlsaid dolorto-be moved inone direction when the door, isop'ened and to close the door whenmoved in another-direction, and means extraneous to the car, and located: adong; the" path traveled by" the car to be engagedfibyfsaid device and be bodily moved thereby iii-"one direction to effect movement of the device-to close the door of b n 5. The combination with a car provided with a movable door, of means for automatically closmg said door and comprising a member carried by the car and operatively connected with. the door, and a cooperating member located along the path traveled by the car and comprising a stationary inclined runway, a carriage movable thereon, a device attached to said carriage and non mally projected into the path of movement of the member carried by the car to be engaged by the latter and effect movement of the carriage up the inclined runway and to effect movement of the member carried by the car and close the door.

6. The combination with a car provided with a movable door, of means for automatically closing said door and comprising a member carried by the car and operatively connected with the door, and a cooperating member located along the path traveled by the car and comprising a stationary inclined runway, a carriage movable thereon, a device attached to said carriage and normally projected into the path of movement of the member carried by the car to be engaged by the latter and'efiect movement of the carriage up the inclined runway and to effect movement of the member carried by the car and close the door, and a counterweight for said carriage.

7 The combination with a car provided with a movable door, of means for automatically closing said door and comprising a member carried by the car and operatively connected with the door, and a cooperating member located along the path traveled by the car and comprising a stationary inclined runway, a carriage movable thereon, a device attached to said carriage and normally projected into the path of movement of the member carried by the car to be engaged by the latter and effect movement of the carriage up the inclined runway and to effect movement of the member carried by the car and close the door, a counterweight for said carriage, and means for cushioning the movement of the carriage downward on said runway.

8. The combination with a car provided with a movable door, of a lever pivoted to the car and operatively connected with the door, a stationary runway located along the path of travel of the car, a carriage movable on said runway, and a lever pivoted to said carriage and projected in to the path of movement of the car to be engaged by the lever on the car and effect movement of the carriage in one direcion and movement of the lever on the car in a direction to close the door. I

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this Specification.

, CARL JOHNSON. 

